AfriGeneas Writers Forum

Call For Papers: Diaspora, Pan-African Conference

from an email:
The Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora Call for Papers

Deadline: December 15, 2008(Please disseminate widely)

You are invited to participate in the fifth biennial conference of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD), to be held August 2-5, 2009, in Accra, Ghana. The conference is co-sponsored by Rutgers University and the W.E.B. Du Bois Center in Accra,with the support of Ghana’s Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Relations.

In commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the first Pan African Congress (1919) and in celebration of Ghana’s central role in nurturing Pan-African struggles for freedom and justice since 1957, the theme of the conference is “AFRICA, DIASPORA, AND PAN-AFRICAN AGENDAS.” The conference will be research driven, featuring panels organized in ways that effectively stimulate discourse across geographic, disciplinary, cultural, and theoretical boundaries. Emphasis will also be given to the practice and performance of culture, identity, and politics. Participants are encouraged to propose roundtable discussions and participatory workshops that look at diasporic encounters in all activities from educational policies to cooking practices. All geographic areas will be represented, including Africa, the Americas, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. Paper and panel proposals that incorporate women, gender, and sexuality as categories of analysis are encouraged.

Proposals: Please send a two-page abstract (for either a single presentation or a panel/roundtable/workshop)and a one-page cv (or a set of one-page cv’s). Roundtable and workshop presentations should be designed to be no more than ten minutes in length, with the balance of the time given to collective in-depth discussion of the issues, or participatory activity.

The deadline for receiving the abstracts is December 15, 2008. Abstracts can be sent prior to submitting the registration fee, and should be directed electronically via email attachment to: ghana-09@rutgers.edu. Other queries can be addressed to: Abena Busia, Director Professor of Literature, Rutgers University c/o W.E.B. Dubois Center P.O. Box CT 975 Cantonments,Accra, Ghanaemail: aswad@webdubois-gh.org